[Indiana]

The New Way Movement
in Retrospect
Our Wonderful Beginning
In 1962 the church life began in the United States with brother Witness Lee fully charged and burdened by the Lord to minister the word of God in this country. He testified that he came with a "particular commission to bring the Lord's recovery to the top Christian country". Before coming to the U.S.A., brother Lee served the Lord mainly in China, Taipei, and the Philippines and helped greatly in the establishing and building up of the local churches there. The response to his ministry in the United States was immediate and many seeking ones were contacted and added to the church, a substantial number coming from around the country to Los Angeles to begin the church life.
The main burden our brother had at that time was to reveal Christ as the life-giving Spirit with all His unsearchable riches to the seeking believers. This burden began to be significantly discharged in the first conference meetings held in the United States in 1962, and the book The All-Inclusive Christ was published containing those messages. His burden for several years was very much along this line as he ministered to the saints and to the churches that were raised up under his ministry. His focus was on the experience of Christ as life for the building up of the church. Many people were attracted by the enjoyment of Christ in the meetings and in the daily life of the saints in the local churches. The testimony “we’re home” was heard often in the fellowship of rejoicing brothers and sisters in the church life.
The Burden for the Truth in Biannual Trainings
A significant turn was made in 1974 with the introduction of trainings to be held biannually in Anaheim. Brother Lee had the burden to establish the saints and the churches more in the truth of the word by going chapter by chapter through the books of the Bible. This he did until the last book was completed. The full exposition of the Bible was finally accomplished in 1995, a total of twenty-one years of work. A line from a hymn appropriately describes our experience with brother Lee during that time: “The Lord has yet more light and truth to break forth from His word”. Virtually everyone who attended those trainings or read the printed messages was greatly helped and blessed as the Lord opened book after book of the mystery of God that was “hidden throughout the ages” but revealed to New Testament believers.
The One Accord for the Lord’s New Move -- 1984 Taipei
While these trainings were in their tenth year, an extraordinary change took place in the recovery. Brother Lee was becoming increasingly aware of the stagnancy among the churches, especially in the Far East. It was a very serious problem to him that in many localities the saints had become complacent. He was, therefore, burdened to take a turn and have a new way, which involved several matters and changes based much on Paul’s word to Timothy that God “desires all men to be saved and come to the full knowledge of the truth”. He felt it was not enough for the saints to hear the messages, read them, and then place them on their shelves; he wanted the saints to become constituted with the truths and to ably speak them back to others, in church meetings and as the gospel. The key, he said, to the Lord’s new move is the one accord among the saints in all the churches. If there could not be a good morale and one accord, there could be no move of the Lord. Thus, he sounded a call to have an army of followers under him as the” commander-in-chief" while brothers responded by constructing and signing a paper stating their allegiance to him and to his ministry. Our brother’s desire was to preserve and protect the churches from drifting into denominationalism by not taking his ministry seriously, a ministry fully unveiling God’s eternal purpose in His economy for man.
The High Peak
In 1994 brother Lee took another step in introducing the high peak of the divine revelation concerning 1) God becoming a man that man could become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead, and 2) the New Jerusalem. The first item was controversial even among many that had been in the church life for 25 or 30 years, in that initially they had problems adjusting to and then accepting such a concept. Brother Lee continued on boldly and with strong assurance that he was speaking what God was speaking and what the churches needed to hear. He said that Satan would attack him for speaking this word and that he needed the prayers and covering of the churches.
His burden for the New Jerusalem was unabated and never-ending. He had an abundance in his heart to share and felt it was necessary to release many matters concerning the New Jerusalem, because it is the consummation, the final goal of God's organic salvation in the Bible and our destination. Brother Lee was so consumed with the matter of the New Jerusalem that he stated, "…If you ask me what my burden is, it is the New Jerusalem". He had summed up his burden in this way. It actually was the same as his ministry had always been, but now he felt he had reached the top, the summit, in utterance and expression of the full significance and definition of the ultimate goal of God's organic salvation.
In all of brother Lee's years of ministering the word in this country, he never spoke sugar- coated messages. He was bold to move past traditional or common Christian thought and teaching and to be faithful to the Lord and to the truth of God's word. In 1985 he spoke this in an elders training meeting: "Christians today are shallow because they would not pay the price to labor adequately. These riches are all here in the Bible, just like gold in a mine, but nearly no one would labor to dig them out. We are here to do the mining work. This is the Lord's recovery. I hope, brothers, that in your localities you would not repeat the old things. We should learn to go on, to learn the things in the heavenlies, and to learn to speak these higher and deeper things."
In many, the reaction to his speaking has been to this day very positive as they can testify with deep gratitude of having received from his ministry the truth of God's word in its rich depths and weighty content. The problems that came into the church life were concerning the new way with its amazing blueprint of teachings and practices founded on the Word and presented as God’s ordained way revealed in the Bible.
The Consternation in the New Way
Not a small number of saints were troubled by the institution of the many changes in the churches following the call by brother Lee to be in one accord for the Lord's move. This new way in the church life suggested to them that certain standards and expectations were now to be met by them. Up to this point, they were glad to take the ministry of brother Lee. The new way, however, troubled them with its sudden new teachings and practices. Brother Lee many times pointed out that there are two things always dividing Christians: doctrines and practices. The teachings and practices introduced by the new way did just this -- it divided the brothers and sisters in the churches. Again, brother Lee’s burden and concern was that the churches were drifting toward denominationalism through their complacency and lukewarmness toward the ministry that he had faithfully brought to this country by the Lord's leading. He felt that in just a matter of time the churches would thus repeat church history if he did not intervene. For that reason, he did intervene as an apostle, as the "commander-in-chief", and as the wise master builder on behalf of all those who had given their lives for the Lord's recovery of the church. He also did it for himself since he too had given his life for this. He was being faithful to his calling, to the Lord, and to the saints. This was his feeling.
Gideon and his 300 Men
So deep were his convictions about his direction in the new way that he was "willing to sacrifice people and localities". He said, "I have no time, dear saints, to fool around with people any longer. Let us go to fight the battle". He indicated that the Lord did not need that many people to fight, likening the Lord's new move to that of Gideon and his army:
"When Gideon was called to take the army to fight the battle for Jehovah, the Lord told him that he had too many. Eventually, the Lord chose three hundred men and told Gideon to send the others home. This does not mean that whoever went back home was no longer an Israelite. He was still an Israelite, but he had nothing to do with the fighting army". He gave the analogy that "to be a citizen of the United States is one thing, but to fight in the United States army is another matter". Gideon only needed three hundred men and the rest could go home. This was the spirit of the Lord's new move. Many actually did go home and did not return. There was to be "no uncertain sounding of the trumpet" for the army to follow with brother Lee as its unique leader. He had the burden to train this army to get into the deeper truths of God's New Testament economy and propagate them throughout the earth. While addressing the elders during an elders training, he said, "You may say that you follow Brother Lee, that you are one with this ministry. That sounds very good, but I am a little concerned that you may not know what it means to be one with this ministry. You may want to take me as your commander-in-chief and follow me, but I do not want to have many followers who know nothing about God's New Testament economy. We are not doing anything but carrying out God's New Testament economy."
Speaking in this way, he showed that he meant business for the saints to rise up to become constituted with the word of God's economy for the Lord's move on the earth. This manner of fellowship caused quite a stir in the churches, and most of the saints in the churches initially wanted to give their full cooperation for this turn. But not every brother and sister and not every church felt this way. Gradually, more members grew cold, though most churches were endeavoring to go on in the new way. Brother Lee did anticipate problems, saying, "I am prepared to meet a situation in which some in the Lord’s recovery will not go this way. This will not surprise me. You and I should not consider these ones as strangers and should not cut them off from the recovery. We should still love them, respect them, and not despise them a bit. Do not consider them as another kind of people. Although they have not joined the army, they are still proper citizens." It proved quite difficult, however, to realize the proper care and acceptance of churches or individuals who could not rise up for the new way. It was, in fact, impossible in many places and with a number of people. Many felt ostracized and out of function. Some just lost heart because they viewed the new way as a lot of activity with stress on numbers and production and less concentration on the person of Christ and our enjoyment of Him. This, along with other matters, became an expanding concern for them and for many leading ones as they saw discouragement set in among the saints in their localities.

The Elders' Pact for the Lord’s New Move - 1986
Brother Lee went to Taiwan in October of 1984 to raise up an army and begin to implement the changes for the Lord's new move. He would curtail everything old, including many longtime elders. He wanted a new start and a new way, which would include home gatherings, the truth lessons, the full-time workers, and the spreading of the gospel through door knocking. A major support of the Lord’s new move was the instituting of a full-time training in Taipei. It was to produce trained soldiers continuously to join this army. Basically, only qualified young people were expected to take part in the training.
Two years later, in 1986, brother Lee took bold steps for producing this army by endeavoring to gain the full cooperation of elders, churches, and saints. He called the elders and co-workers together from around the world for an urgent meeting, the third such meeting in two years. It was in this third meeting that inspired elders and coworkers rose up to sign an agreement to closely follow brother Lee and his leadership. The following is included in the agreement they signed:
Dear Brother Lee: After hearing your fellowship in this elders training, we all agree to have a new start in the Lord's recovery. For this, we all agree to be in one accord and to carry out this new move of the Lord solely through prayer, the Spirit, and the Word. We further agree to practice the recovery one in: teaching, practice, thinking, speaking, essence, appearance, and expression. We repudiate all differences among the churches, and all indifference toward the ministry, the ministry office, and the other churches. We agree that the church in our place be identical with all the local churches throughout the earth. We also agree to follow your leading as the one who has brought us God's New Testament economy and has led us into its practice. We agree that this leading is indispensable to our oneness and acknowledge the one trumpet in the Lord's ministry and the one wise master builder among us…."
No Mention of Love
It is worth noting here that in our brother’s declaration, there was no mention of love. The thought of love was omitted. Love was not only strangely missing in this pact, it was also regrettably lacking in the practical application of it. The reason that leaders in this army did not consider love to be an essential element of their vow is simple -- an army doesn’t need love! What an army needs is esprit de corp. They had that, in a sense, with the Spirit and the Word. Those not in the army, however, had neither esprit de corps nor the love to maintain them in the church life. Consequently, many saints left the local churches.
Genuine Oneness Not Pursued
Although brother Lee called for the respect to be given to those saints or churches not taking the new way, I do not know where that was done, how that was done, or if it was done. The atmosphere that was created was not conducive for a genuine acceptance of non-cooperating members and I don't know how such acceptance could have been possible. For instance, in a meeting in Taipei I attended in October 1987, brother Lee ended his message abruptly, pounding his fist on the table once, and pronouncing emphatically that anyone who didn’t take the new way was foolish, and then he sat down.
Another word he gave was to the elders: "Now you know where I am and where you should be. Also, you know what all of us should do -- go to fight as an army and in the army. Who are the us? Those that are in the army fighting for this ministry." This wasn’t a word of comfort or
peace to those brothers or churches not in the army. Brother Lee had a vision and he had a goal, and the atmosphere in the recovery did not allow for a comfortable divergence from his objectives.
This was the spirit of the new way, a spirit very much of power, but not love. It was obtrusive in its pursuit for the one accord, while failing to consider, care for, or accommodate those strewn in its wake. The modus operandi of the new way violated the genuine oneness of the Body with all its precious members.
The Unclear Distinction Between the Ministry and the Churches
Brother Lee wanted to make it clear that the ministry and the church were separate matters. The army he needed was for the ministry specifically. He said that whether or not a certain church took the ministry did not decide whether that church is a genuine local church. The
oneness he was after was for the ministry. If a church did not support his ministry it was still a genuine local church as long as it accepted the other churches and stayed in fellowship with them.
He gave the following analogy: "The citizens of the United States may say many things to criticize the government and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. But when you get into the army and become a soldier, you lose the right to say anything."
He continued, "you may be a member of a local church and yet have nothing to do with the ministry to fight the battle for the Lord's interest on the earth. All of you are the elders, the co-workers, and the apprentice elders, the leading ones, in the recovery. I am speaking to you all as the soldiers in the recovery, not to the citizens. I am speaking to the soldiers of the army. Are you going to remain in the army? You have to realize what the army is and what the army would do. The army has no capacity to take your opinion. There is no time for the army to fool around. The situation is quite urgent. The intention of this heavenly army is to evangelize and truthize Taiwan first and then the United States."
To repeat, it was quite difficult to really have the proper care and attitude for individuals and churches that were not in one accord in the new way. The ministry is such an integral part of the church life with the meetings, the trainings, the service groups, the small groups, hospitality, and morning watch, how could the fighting spirit of those rising up for the army not carry over to the church life?
They would be pushing for new way practices while others would be uncomfortable with their army-oriented brothers and sisters. The soldiers in an army are different than the citizens of its country. There was this difference among the saints in their localities in those days. Going on in one accord was not possible. In fact, it wasn’t even intended for all. The one accord presented for the new way was a separating word ordered to find out who would rise up for this army, and who would not.
Many brothers and sisters felt out of favor and out of function and just lost heart. It was becoming evident to “dissenters” that whereas the ministry had always been for the churches, now the churches were for the ministry. Indeed, the churches were becoming “educational centers” for the major truths of the Bible to be dispensed into and constituted with the ministry of brother Witness Lee. Our brother strongly promoted this. The Lord's Day morning meeting was called a prophesying meeting. There was no longer any real freedom to just give a testimony of an experience of Christ. Rather, all the saints were encouraged to prophesy, that is, to speak forth something of Christ from the ministry. Saints were also uncomfortable to share from other sources than the ministry. This restriction, discipline, and exercise was very profitable to the churches, on the one hand. On the other hand, a number of saints didn't have the liberty to share Christ as they felt led before the Lord, and several leading ones felt that they no longer had the flexibility to allow the Lord to lead them according to their locality's particular needs. The program was set, so to speak.
It seemed to these brothers and sisters that the church was becoming institutionalized with the churches not only using the same messages, but using them in the same way on the Lord’s Day morning; the truth lessons were being prescribed for group meetings and door knocking requirements for the churches were pushed heavily. The full-time training and support for it was being established with much emphasis on it and on predestinating our young people for it. The semi-annual trainings in the ministry were the fixed source of fellowship for the following months until the next training. And, saints were compelled to attend the video trainings with regular church meetings and service groups being canceled. Although this is a highly desirable format for most of the saints, many in the recovery became quite dejected and felt there was no way for them to be in the church in any other way then to comply with what was set down by administration.
Questionable Aspects of The New Way
What is very important to note is that the brothers and sisters who were beginning to leave the church were not against the word of God, the ground of the church, or normal church practices. They did not leave as opposers or dissenters to any of these matters. Neither did they leave because they did not love the Lord or the church or the ministry. They were meeting as proper "citizens" on the ground of unity, or oneness. The reason they left was because of questionable aspects of the new church practice, and they were no longer at home in the church life.
Certain features of the new way indeed were questionable, such as the young people's full-time training, which was formed as a group of promising ones in the recovery. The establishing of such a group as a kind of centerpiece is what Watchman Nee had warned against, saying that according to church history to set up something in this way is the beginning of a move toward denominationalism.
The FTT, nonetheless, became the hope for the future of the churches as well as for their current vitality, and virtually all of the elders and churches supported and prized its existence. They were also benefited and blessed much as trainees began to enter back into the church life in various localities after their intensive two-year training. It posed a very real problems, however, for a number of people, not the least of which was the disparity in interest and care for members outside the FTT.
With the enormous amount of time, energy, money, and manpower being invested into the full-time training, I asked a brother involved with the FTT about the care for those in Anaheim who were not in the full-time training. He confirmed that the overseeing care and interest was fully on the FTT, simply explaining that brother Lee’s burden was for the young people and for this training. This was in November 1995.
The emergence of the FTT was for the spreading of the gospel and the church life as well as for the producing of overcomers to become the spiritual Mt. Zion, the elevated part of Jerusalem in the midst of the church, manifesting the reality of the Body of Christ to usher in a new age. Its existence, however, is a constant reminder and clear example of the difference in care and interest in the members that has existed in the churches since the onset of the new way. Further, the FTT presents a formidable challenge to the New Testament where no precedent has been set for a special group of qualified ones within the church to receive such devoted care and wonderful selected attention.
There are very good alternatives to the FTT that would take away the focus on a few and put it on the Body, while still preserving our young people, but making greater opportunity for all others to get intensified training and care. I say this with respect to those young people who have been trained in the FTT and who are now good dispensers of Christ and of the ministry in different places, some even going abroad in sacrifice of the human comforts of their soul for the gospel.
Having One Unique Leader
Another concern of the saints was the concept of there being one unique leader. Brother Lee was very strong to claim such a distinction in the recovery. It offended many of the saints for him to be so resolute about himself. It was not clear to them what he was doing and why, but,
it seemed to them that this too was not according to New Testament scripture. It is true that there has never been a brother in the line of God's economy with so much influence over so many churches and people glad to respond to whatever word and direction he might set. Certainly, neither the Apostle Paul nor Watchman Nee had such a wide sphere of influence. Moreover, it is quite unlikely that if they did that they would have considered such colossal undertakings as our brother took in the churches. His boldness and absoluteness was very disconcerting to a good number of people.
It would neither be fair nor right for us to think that our brother could not make a mistake. He himself warned the elders that if they thought he couldn’t make mistakes they would do damage to him and to themselves. He assured them that he could make a mistake, reminding them of Peter’s mistakes, and that even Paul made a serious mistake.
Another matter of concern was the burden of brother Lee for the gospel that was being carried out in the new way by door knocking. Some saints and elders were quite alarmed at the amount of dissatisfaction door knocking generated in several places among the saints. Some elders went to him, asking that he reconsider this and other new practices. Brothers and sisters by the scores were becoming discouraged. Our brother did seem to consider the reports with interest but decided, however, that God's ordained way was worth fighting for, even at the expense of others. So, we "sailed on" according to his charge, but not all of us.
Here is a paradox: Oneness with the ministry was gained at the price of division in the church. For some to “sail on” in one accord was to provide the fertile bed of discord among many others -- the believers, the members of the Body of Christ, meeting as the church in their locality”. Brother Lee's word was coming to pass that he was "willing to sacrifice people and places". Yet their concerns were well-founded, and attempts to address those concerns ended in extreme frustration and, for many, their sad departure from the church. Where was the principle of the Body in the new way, the keeping of the real one accord that is in the inclusive nature of Christ? Where was the same care for every member that there be no division in the Body that Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians? It was not there in the new way. The oneness in the Lord’s new move was not a oneness of the Body. Rather, it dishonored the New Testament oneness that includes every member.

The Real Cause of Division
Brother Lee had warned the saints about division requesting that they "not criticize or oppose the army, since this would cause trouble and then division”. He said, like Gideon, he would gain an army, pointing out that “those who followed Gideon to fight against the Philistines defeated them and rescued the entire nation of Israel". In other words, the "citizens" were to respect what the army was doing and not cause a problem. This went on for months and then for years with the focus being on the army and the new way.
During this time, priceless saints who did not fit the configuration of new way practice and procedures were leaving continually from the "ground of oneness". They may have ended up eventually meeting with other Christians who were glad to accept them or they may have gone to the world, some plunging into a sinful and dissipated life. What a loss to the church in favor of seeking new ones who might configure well in the new church life!
In Brother Lee's warning about causing division, the onus was placed on those dissenters to the new way. I have a serious question to ask. Who or what caused the damage and division during the Lord's new move? Those who were standing on the ground of oneness as proper "citizens" in the church or the fighting army?
We should know assuredly that oneness with Brother Lee and his ministry is not automatically oneness with the Body. These are two different matters. As highly significant and noble as it is to pursue oneness with brother Lee and his ministry, if this pursuit isn't balanced with a practical and genuine care for all the members, a wide gulf is created between the saints. This is division! "In the Body life the same care should be given to all the different members. A difference in care causes division" (1 Cor. 12:25 footnote, RcV).
In the new way we were not eager to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the bond of peace with every member (Eph. 4:3).
What the Recovery Needs
In the beginning of Brother Lee's ministry in the United States, although we heard marvelous things, we heard comparatively little about love. Near the end of his ministry, however, he did speak more concerning the need for love among us. He said, "In the last few years, we have appreciated the Lord's showing us the high peak of divine revelation. My concern is that although we may talk about the truths of the high peak, love is absent among us. If this is the case, we are puffed up, not built up. The Body builds up itself in love".
He actually began to speak in this way starting in 1988 and, intermittently, to the end of his ministry, addressing the elders on a number of occasions more definitely about this need. He said, "according to my observance throughout the years, most of the coworkers have a human spirit of "power" but not love. We need a spirit of love to conquer the degradation of today's church…this is what the recovery needs." He also stated, "only love prevails" and that "love is the most excellent way". He said it is the way to be an elder or a co-worker, and that it is the way to handle the saints. He proclaimed that it is the way to do everything and to be anything in the church life.
It was about this time that he looked back over his church life experience and recalled that his best days were in Chefoo. He said that was his most prosperous, fruitful time in the church due to the love and the practical shepherding of the saints. He testified that it was the shepherding that brought in the blessing. Although he had shared so much with the saints on the revelation of life in the scriptures throughout the years, he said that even the gospel of John, a gospel on life, needed the last chapter on shepherding to make it meaningful.
The Revival in Chefoo
Our brother seems to have pondered the non-encouraging results of the Lord's new move and the damage that had been done, having summed up his feeling in an elders’ training, testifying that the result of his labor in the United States had not been satisfactory. In fact, it had been “disappointing”. He also testified that his work in both Taipei and the Philippines never brought "satisfactory results", and that only one place had done so where he had labored -- "Chefoo, my home town." He was locked in by the war then and could not leave to minister to the churches. So, he gave his full attention to the needs in his locality.
A vital practice in Chefoo was for the leading shepherding ones to meet for hours and consider all the “difficulties and deficiencies” among the saints in their locality, then find a way to meet the need. He said, "This fellowship was not superficial, but deep, getting to the bottom of things." Brothers, as well as sisters were there, and they fellowshipped, prayed, and coordinated in oneness with the Lord for the shepherding of all the saints. As a result, the morale in that place was high and the real one accord was produced that made an impact on their city. This caused a revival to break out that lasted for ten years. They were the real spiritual parents taking care of the spiritual welfare of their spiritual children.
The Church Family in Chefoo
The church in Chefoo was like a family. It was a church family with an atmosphere of a spirit of love prevailing there. The love inspired people and motivated them. Love kept people in the church, and love brought new ones in. This church family experience was their oneness providing the Lord a base to move in their locality.
Besides being one of the shepherding ones visiting the saints in their homes regularly and when there was special need, a young brother Lee liked to have meals at the meeting hall and invite ten or twenty brothers and sisters to come and eat. During that time, he would talk to them one by one. In this way he contacted every one of the few hundred brothers and sisters. He said that by sitting down with them, chatting with them and getting acquainted with them he could get a clear impression about them and their need.
In Chefoo there was no centerpiece, no special group as a distraction from the fundamental need to care for the members equally. The ministry was in place with no special emphasis on it or allegiance to it. All the leading ones gave their attention, time, and energy to the Body. Thus, the one accord was struck. Their increase came due to the love and the one accord! They had the same care for the rickshaw boy as for the banker, the same love for the coolie and his wife as for the "promising ones." It was their family. The Lord poured out His blessing on this!
A Timely Trumpeting for the Present Need
Brother Lee recognized four years into the new way that there was the need to sound another trumpet call quite different from the first. He spoke messages to that effect in 1988 that are in print in a book called, A Timely Trumpeting for the Present Need. This was a trumpet call to
elders and co-workers expressing the urgent and present need to care for people. He said, "Today, there are many brothers and sisters who need help. Hence, we have to do our best to contact them, to be concerned and care for them in love, and to strive to help and shepherd
them…”I hope the elders and co-workers would take this word of fellowship and exhortation to give their all and their time to contact and shepherd people. This was our shortage in the past. Now we must recover this matter." Until his death, he would sound this trumpet again and again - at least during these four years, ardently, 1989, 1991, 1993, and 1996.
Our Way Is Not Right
Yet, in speaking to the elders in 1996, he made this assessment the year before his passing:
“As I have said before, the spirit of not shepherding and seeking others and being without love and forgiveness is spreading in the recovery everywhere. I believe that not having the Father's loving and forgiving heart and not having the Savior's shepherding and seeking spirit is the reason for our barrenness. I realize that you all work hard, but there is almost no fruit. The Lord says, 'By the fruit the tree is known' (Matt. 12:33), but we are a tree without any fruit. Everywhere among us barrenness is very prevailing.”
"Many of you are good speakers, knowing the higher truths. The truths we hold are much higher than those in Christianity. However, we do not have fruit because we are lacking in the Father's loving and forgiving heart and the Son's shepherding and seeking spirit. We condemn and regulate others rather than shepherd and seek them. We are short of love and shepherding. These are the vital factors for us to bear fruit, that is, to gain people. I am very concerned for our full-time training. Do we train the young ones to gain people or to regulate people? We have to reconsider our ways, as Haggai said (1:5). Our way is not right; something is wrong." (A Word of Love, W. Lee, 1996)
*******
In January 2001, I presented my first writing In the Wake of the New Way to Dan Towle at LSM and was considered by LSM brothers to be an “attack” on Witness Lee and his ministry. That was far from my intention, nevertheless, I was “banned” from fellowship until I could repent for writing about what actually happened in the wake of a costly movement that happened to be initiated by our brother, Witness Lee. My objective was for brothers to come to a table of fellowship to consider ones lost in the movement and reach out to them. Both brothers Nee and Lee had given fair forewarnings in each of their periods of leadership concerning safeguards for keeping the oneness in the Body, by avoiding troubles in the leadership that history shows would surely cause division if repeated.
I mention below two of their warnings.


Watchman Nee 1948 (The Jerusalem Principle was presented)
Whenever a special leader, or a specific doctrine, or some experience, or creed, or organization, becomes a center for drawing together the believers of different places, then
because the center of such a church federation is other than Christ, it follows that its sphere will be other than local. And whenever the divinely-appointed sphere of locality is displaced by a sphere of human invention, there the divine approval cannot rest. The believers within such a sphere may truly love the Lord, but they have another center apart from Him, and it is only natural that the second center becomes the controlling one…. The center always determines the sphere, and the second center creates a sphere which divides those who attach themselves to it from those who do not. Anything that becomes a center to unite believers of different places will create a sphere which includes all believers who attach themselves to that center and excludes all who do not. This dividing line will destroy the God-appointed boundary of locality, and consequently destroy the very nature of the churches of God…. There are no other churches in Scripture but local churches! (The Normal Christian Church Life, pp. 92-93)
Witness Lee early days in LA, 1964
(after 30 years in local churches abroad, 20 with Watchman Nee)
“Wherever there is a gifted person, a spiritual giant with a certain gift, that person will begin a work. He will build up a certain Christian organization or ministry. We are not opposing anyone, but we are against the wrong principles which damage the Body life. The Apostle Paul did not form any Christian organization; he did not set up any kind of work. For possibly thirty years, he just established local churches. And, he did not keep any work in his own hands. In reading the New Testament we can only find the churches which were built up by him.
“At the time the Apostle John wrote the book of Revelation he was greatly experienced and matured. Of the twelve apostles he was the only one remaining. Yet he did not build up anything as his work, his ministry. Consider the local churches in Asia to whom he wrote: most of them were exceedingly weak; yet those churches were the lampstands, not the ministry of the Apostle John. John’s ministry was far more spiritual than the condition of those churches; yet he did not set up his ministry as a lampstand. In fact, he did not set up his ministry as anything. All he did was to further the building up of those local churches as the lampstands. Oh, we all must learn this! We must be aware of the dangerous tendency for any local church to become a work, kept in the hand of some gifted person. If such is the case, that is a real degradation.
However much the Lord may use a gifted person, however great his ministry may be, the local church must not become his work. God’s intention is not to build up the ministry of any person, but to build up His church. This is not a small matter.
“In the New Testament there are the titles, the “church of God” (Acts 20:28), the “church of Christ” (Rom. 16:16), and the “church of the saints” (1 Cor. 14:33); 1Thess. 1:1). There is never any “church of the apostles”. The church belongs to God, to Christ, to the saints, not to any apostle. “The greater our gift is, the greater is the danger that we will take over the church and keep it in our hands. This will greatly damage the church life. We must learn not only how to minister in the local church, but also how to keep our hands off the church. This is not easy. The local church is not our personal enterprise. The local church is the property of the local saints, not some worker’s business. Some gifted persons put a local church in their pocket. Oh, this is a real problem!
“All the local saints must realize that the local church is their church. If the local saints are not clear concerning this, they will allow a gifted person to take the local churches into his own hands and treat it as his personal property. Then the entire church life will be finished. The local churches belong to the local saints. The gifted persons are just the means to perfect the saints to function; they are only the instruments used by the Lord to build up the churches.
“Consider the situation in Christianity today. Look at the situation even from the time of the Reformation: four or five hundred years have passed, and it is still basically the same. Whenever a gifted person is raised up, a certain kind of work is established. I establish my work, you establish your work, he establishes his work. Then the church is gone. This is the source of all the divisions. However, if one gifted brother comes to build a local church, and a second gifted brother comes to build up the same church, there will be no division. All the work must be for the church, not for the workers. The ministry should be for the church; the church should never be for the ministry. We must be exceedingly clear concerning this principle. We must drop all wrong practices. A gifted brother should keep his hands off the local church. Although a gifted brother may sometimes not speak openly in a way of ministry, yet he still may quietly maneuver behind the scenes. Any such maneuvering damages the church. All gifts and gifted persons must be entirely for the local church. This is a tremendously vital matter.” (W.L., The Vision of God’s Building, 1964, LA)

Transparent Overview of Our History
of the Witness Lee Era in the U. S.

1. The Beginning of the Church Life
In 1962 the church life in the Lord’s recovery had already begun, but accelerated markedly with the arrival of brother Witness Lee who was fully charged and burdened by the Lord to minister the word of God in the United States. He testified that he came with a "particular commission to bring the Lord's recovery to the top Christian country". The response to his ministry in the United States was immediate and many left secure jobs and moved long distances to join the church life in Los Angeles.
2. The Catalyst for Coming to the U.S. (excerpts from former Taipei elder Larry Chi’s book on church in Taipei history, translated from Mandarin)

Although Brother Lee testified that he was commissioned by the Lord to come to the U. S., “there were serious issues between him and churches in the Far East that were a catalyst for his coming here. In the late fifties he had created a major problem for the church in Taipei through business failures involving investments from the saints, and his oldest son, Timothy, and he lost a lot of money. This brought a financial crisis to the church in Taipei. All the donations from the church members were used to pay the debt incurred, and still a large amount of money was owed. Due to the desperate situation, Brother Lee coerced the elders to sell a piece of land belonging to the church in order to pay the debt. Because of that action many coworkers and church members were especially unhappy. That piece of land had been bought by the church to build a training center and a new meeting place. Brother Lee knew that what he did was wrong and left for the West Coast of the United States in 1960.”
“After Brother Lee left Taiwan, the church coworkers formed two sides. One side was Brother Lee’s strong followers, while the other group had questions about some of his activities. Those two groups had a strong difference of opinion, which greatly affected the church life and made the work of the church difficult to carry out. Eventually, some of the coworkers who were followers of Brother Lee asked him to come back to Taiwan to resolve differences.
In the summer of 1965, Brother Lee came back to Taipei. He decided to get rid of those coworkers who disagreed with him. Consequently, there were thousands of people who left the church. At that time almost 30% of the regular members left, a most serious situation being that about 80-90% of the young members who were college students left the church. Brother Lee’s action in 1965 has been referred to as a “cleansing massacre” to get the church to line up with him only. Others feel that it was a necessary move. At any rate Brother Lee came back to the U. S. and the saints in Taipei were left to pick up the pieces and begin to rebuild.”
“In other matters in the Far East, toward the end of the 1950’s, co-workers in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia had serious differences with Brother Lee because of the absolute authority he exercised, which was hard for them to take. Everything was dictated by him, and he would not take any input from others. In addition, some of the affluent church members were very unhappy about his handling of the financial matters. This was due to the fact that a lot of the money had been contributed by them, and Brother Lee handled the finances according to his own thought. The co-workers did not feel they could trust him anymore and because of the differences they had with him they split up.”
“As Brother Lee left Taiwan in 1960 for the U. S. the church work there was in serious disarray. Also the Philippines work was split off. The Philippines was very important to Brother Lee and several well-to-do church members supported the church there financially over the years. Manila, however, decided to sever relationships with Brother Lee totally in 1960.”
“Concerning the Philippines and finances, Brother Lee was nearly arrested at the Manila airport for trying to smuggle a gold bar out of the country. He received a warning only, because of his good reputation in the country.“
3. Brother Lee Admits to Mistakes
Even though it is not commonplace to point to Brother Lee’s mistakes, he himself did so, saying, “I have made many mistakes; even some big mistakes” (Eph. L. S., p. 279, 1978).
“When he came to the West Coast, Brother Lee knew about some mistakes he made in the Far East. To repeat, when Brother Lee left Taiwan to go to the U.S. in 1960, it was not really that he went there to open up a new land for the Lord’s recovery. Rather, it was because of his own personal failure in Taiwan that he escaped to the U.S.
4. Brothers’ Request in L. A. and Problems in Taipei
In 1962 Brother Lee set up a business for his oldest son, Timothy, at the Seattle World’s Fair. Since he was on the West Coast, the brothers in Los Angeles asked him to give them a conference, and he did so after the Fair. After those meetings they begged him to move to Los Angeles. He did take up residence in L. A., since he really could not go back to Taipei.
5. Brother Lee Repents
Don Hardy felt that the reason Witness Lee had such impact in the U. S. in the sixties was because he had deeply repented of his wrongdoings and was a cleansed vessel to begin his rich ministry of the word in this country. Paul Ma testified to the brothers that Brother Lee spent many hours of prayerful repenting while traveling with him in the early sixties in the U. S. He could be seen in the corner of the motel room praying “Lord, have mercy”, “Lord have mercy”, over and over for a long period of time.
6. Witness Lee’s Main Burden
Brother Lee’s main spiritual burden in the U.S. was to reveal Christ as the life-giving Spirit with all His unsearchable riches. This burden began to be discharged in the first conference meetings held in the United States in 1962 in the home of Samuel Chang. The All-Inclusive Christ came out of that conference. His focus during the early years was on the experience of
Christ as life for the building up of the church.
7. Concern for Weakness in Brother Lee
In 1966 Samuel Chang revealed to a young prospective elder, Don Hardy, his serious concern for Brother Lee and a defect in his character related to his son, Timothy, and all his seven children. Don was exhorted to keep the matter covered much in prayer. Samuel’s concern was well-founded given the record of the extent Brother Lee would go for his son, Timothy, in business at the expense of others and the church. His word to Don portended for far more serious developments in the future with Timothy Lee and another son, Philip, who were made heads of businesses for Brother Lee, involving the saints.
What provoked Samuel Chang to speak to Don Hardy as he did was that the meeting place of the church in Los Angeles was being used by Brother Lee to store the unsold expensive suits and shirts left over from his World’s Fair business with Timothy. This
was a source of irritation and concern to Samuel, especially since he knew of the problems Brother Lee’s business excursions had caused the church in the past in Taipei.
7.5. Revival in Los Angeles
In 1969 a revival occurred in the church in Los Angeles that brought in a steady stream of new ones from L. A. and from all around the country, the number of church members growing to over 1000 members.

8. Migrations
In 1970 migrations went out to Seattle, Chicago, and Atlanta.
9. More Migrations
In 1972 migrations went out to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Indianapolis, and Phoenix.
10. A Spirit of Migration
In 1973 migrations went out to Minneapolis and Milwaukee. There was a spirit of migration in the recovery and the air was filled with much anticipation and hope as all the churches were “standing on the ground of oneness in the Lord” in their locality and for “the Lord’s recovery of the city and the earth”. Conferences were held frequently around the country by Brother Lee, with only one essential message being given to the saints: to eat and drink Christ for the building up of the church. Life and building was the theme in the local churches, and eating was the way.
11. Reading Material and Impact
Reading material in the sixties and early seventies were the books, booklets and magazine that came from the Stream Publishers, such as The Glorious Church, Release of the Spirit, and Sit, Walk, Stand by Watchman Nee and The All-Inclusive Christ, God’s Economy, Vision of God’s
Building, and Christ vs Religion by Witness Lee, which had a great impact on those who read them. The Stream magazine came out quarterly with rich, nourishing spiritual food for the saints to enjoy and to attract the seeking ones. The Generation was published by younger people for a seeking generation of young people across the country.
12. Daystar Venture
In 1972 a luxury motor home business called Daystar was launched by Brother Lee for his son, Timothy, and also for the saints in the local churches to invest in. The business was presented as a way to pay for migrations and meeting halls and further the Lord’s purpose (while at the same time benefiting his oldest son immensely who was made the president of Daystar). The venture needed huge monetary investments from the saints.
13. Training Fees Used to Payoff Daystar Debt
In 1974 the Daystar business failed. The business plan had been poorly conceived; the motorhome was too heavy; the interior was very expensive to build; and the gas crisis of 1973 was the final nail in the coffin to cause the business to fail and file for bankruptcy. Many saints lost money, some forfeiting their life-savings and many becoming disillusioned to the point of leaving the church. Brother Lee found himself in a financial crisis because some of the saints wanted to sue him and the corporation. To help himself he asked Max Rapoport to make a request of the elders to ask the saints in their localities to waive Brother Lee’s “debt” to them. Max did so and many of the saints did waive the debt. Ones who were quite angry and wanted
their money back typically got paid, but not all. This also happened in the Northwest.

As another way to help himself out in the crisis, Brother Lee began the training on the books of the Bible, charging entrance fees (called “donations”) at the two LSM semi annual trainings, which Brother Lee later admitted privately were used to raise money to pay off Daystar debt. Charging “donation” fees began to be practiced to the dismay of elders close to Brother Lee, who did not agree that money should be procured from the saints who came to the trainings to hear the word of God. But there was nothing they could do. These funds were collected by LSM, not the church, and were indeed used toward paying off various Daystar debts; not all church members' “donations” were paid back.

14. Daystar Illegalities
When the Daystar corporation was set up, a way to sell shares to the saints was not properly established and was in violation of federal SEC regulations. Terry Risenhoover, a brother in the church in Oklahoma City at the time, and the Daystar accountant, told a brother of the illegal situation. When word of this got to James Barber, the lead elder in OKC, Terry was given the choice to repent or be excommunicated. He stayed with the truth and was excommunicated. These violations of the law could have brought criminal penalties to Witness Lee and others in the failed business. Terry thought the violations were due to a cavalier attitude in the principals who felt they were above the law and that it was also a matter of their ignorance about certain matters. An attorney brother had conferred with Terry about the illegalities.
14.5 Anaheim Hall Built in Violations of Law
In the early 1970’s land was secured for the building of the Anaheim meeting hall. Saints gave money liberally for the project and morale was high. Workers came from localities near and far. Both skilled and unskilled labor was given freely on weekends and after regular work days. Some even left their employment to be full-time for the construction which went on seven days a week, many workers staying late into the night until the early mornings.
It began to be noticed that an attitude was present in the decision-making that “we are above the law”. Questionings arose when the fire code and other code regulations were being violated, and when securing necessary permits were neglected, which were all being excused and reasoned away. Only after repeated visits by inspectors and their threats of penalties were the steps taken to repair the defects they pointed out.
All decisions during the building were made by only one person, Witness Lee. The prevalent teaching and encouragement was to suppress all opinions because opinions were of the flesh, and those expressing opinions were labeled as fleshly or negative. Skilled workmen had real
concerns about cost and labor over some of Witness Lee’s indiscretionary moves, yet they were not to express their opinion. Work was done and then re-done with a different twist, according to the whims of Brother Lee, which the brothers would not have cost-justified. Of course, the money was not Brother Lee’s, nor was the time given to the work, his time.
14.6 The Greatest Indiscretion
The greatest indiscretion and injustice manifested itself upon the completion of the structure. The entire building was deeded over to Stream Publishing a business entity, later to be renamed Living Stream Ministry. The original intention of the building was to be for the church. But only after a period of time was a smaller fraction of the property given to the “church side”. LSM even used the church premises for a book room, even though the LSM business was located right next door with many and varied books on display and available there. Even after the building was supposedly completed, tearing down and constant renovations continued year after year.
There seemed to be no end to the demand for free labor to make constant changes of rooms and walls. Walls that were torn down inspectors demanded to be reinstated to their original position after it was learned that the changes violated the building code. All this extra, hard labor had to be freely done by “volunteers”. Meetings of the church were often interrupted by the noise of
hammers and sawing of wood during these “renovations”. The work was carried on during the church meetings because the manager of the business, Philip Lee, who was thought by many to be an unsaved person, supervised this work and seldom attended any church meetings. The small area granted to the “church meeting side” was encroached upon over and over to add to the “business” side until there were not enough rooms for the children’s meetings. Some classes had to be held in the homes and apartments of the teachers or in the public park if the apartments or homes weren’t large enough. Storage rooms for unsold stacks of literature were given priority over the rooms for the children.
The Living Stream Ministry did go on to become a multi-million dollar business that many fear and some attest made Witness Lee and the Lee family very wealthy. What Daystar and other failed businesses did not accomplish, LSM did in bringing monetary riches to the Lee family, according to brothers who were closely associated with LSM.
14.7 Turning Away from the Vision - Don Rutledge, Dallas elder

“The turn away from the vision Witness Lee (and Watchman Nee) had regarding the practice of the local church life began in January 1974 at the very first special elders and co-workers conference. This is when the concept of the work began. Few of the saints realize the magnitude of effect this meeting had on the churches. With charts and statistics, Witness Lee and Max Rapoport came forth to launch the movement. It was boldly declared that the churches would use Witness Lee as the exclusive source of teaching and Max would serve as the coordinator to bring the various churches, with their elders, into a unified movement.” Two life-study messages a week were going to be given in Anaheim and ministry stations were set up in various cities to repeat the messages through designated brothers. Some smaller churches consolidated to the larger localities where there was a ministry station. The official list of twelve men who could give conferences was announced. Bi annual trainings began that year. From that time on, the individual churches would be called to account if they were moving “independently.” In addition to coordinating the elders to act in a single direction, Max was charged to assist the various churches to be more effective with gospel preaching and outreach.
“He began to travel and, in particular, to meet with the elders. Those who would not be good movement men were pushed aside, if possible, or moved somewhere to be out of the way. On several occasions, Max told me that he was working to bring the elders and churches into one coordination for the purpose of carrying out the burden of Witness Lee. He told me several times that only he could ‘put the whole thing together’.
"I am not attempting to call into question the motive of Witness Lee or Max. During this time, Witness Lee did some very good teaching and Max did some very good gospel work. But what did happen was that the nature of the various ‘local churches’ changed from being local in administration and spontaneous in actions to being directed from a center with clear administrative leaders and directors.
“Things were definitely not the same. Some were saying the time of blessing has passed; or we changed our vision; or the moving of the Spirit left the churches; or teaching, doctrine, and methods replaced life. “This time ended with a split between Witness Lee and Max Rapoport after a power struggle between them. Both had their followers, and Witness Lee won out. It was at this time, the time of becoming a movement that opened the door to Philip Lee and set the stage for the current Blending Brothers. “After the split with Max, there was a pause in the development of the movement. Witness Lee began again to start up the movement consolidation in 1981. He bought property in Irving, Texas and began making plans to strengthen the movement. Benson Phillips and Ray Graver of Texas began traveling to the churches to promote Witness Lee, his ministry, and the office. By 1984 the first round of lawsuits had been won. WL declared that the boulders were off the road and the “Lord’s Recovery” could proceed. In 1986 the final pieces were put in place.
The movement looked nothing like the early days of Elden Hall, Ohio, the Northwest or Texas or other places.”
14.8 Migrations Stop
The spirit and atmosphere of migration disappeared by 1974.

15. Biannual Trainings
The turn in the recovery in 1974 saw the introduction of trainings that would be held biannually in Anaheim. Brother Lee would establish the saints and the churches more in the truth of the word by going chapter by chapter through every book of the Bible. He began with Romans that December. The full exposition of the Bible was accomplished in 1995 with Songs of Solomon.

16. Churches in Decline
The churches, however, had become stagnant in 1974, and the impact was gone. Several reasons have been cited for this by Brother Lee, such as, the migrations took place too soon; regions were being controlled by certain leaders; he, Brother Lee, said he failed to train the elders to care properly for the churches; and that the elders didn’t just pick up the burden to care for the churches as they did at Elden Hall. The failure of the Daystar business was not given as a major factor in the decline of the churches only because “losing face” would be necessary and rather than suffer enormous embarrassment and widespread humiliation for Brother Lee and his family, he manifested his propensity to procure money from the saints for doing business. He had failed at this in Taipei and owed money when he left there for the U.S. and new horizons. But Daystar would be a disastrous repeat of previous failures, to say the least.

So there would be many who would readily say with a heavy heart, that Daystar was not only the reason for the beginning of the decline; it was also the factor that precluded further rich blessing of the Spirit on a path of life headed for a church of glory. The movement of a man and a ministry invaded the church and became the ground upon which the ministry churches of Witness Lee would gain their glory.
.
17. Mixing the Church with Business
Don Rutledge shared: “One evening (1975) after a conference meeting in Dallas, I was walking with Brother Lee. He stopped, turned to me, then put his arm around my shoulder. I realized that he was about to tell me something very serious. He told me that he made a terrible mistake with Daystar (luxury motor home business he introduced to the churches) that failed in 1975. He said that if he saw Brother Nee he would not know what to say since Brother Nee had warned him not to mix the church with financial matters or business. He then told me that he had once told Watchman Nee that he was not following him, but rather was following the truth and vision that Brother Nee taught." Furthermore, Lee said he would not follow Nee if Nee left the vision, but that he, Brother Lee, would continue to follow the vision. He then looked me straight in the eye and charged me, “Brother Don, if I leave the vision, do not follow me but follow the vision.” I was a little speechless, but I did manage to return the embrace and assure Brother Lee that I would remain true to the vision and the truth.” _DFR

18. Legal Action taken against Mindbenders and Godmen
In the mid to late 1970s, LSM took legal action against The Mindbenders and God Men, two books they felt were defamatory against the local churches and Witness Lee. Five years of litigation drained money, energy, and time from the saints and the churches And, being on the heels of Daystar, this ordeal contributed further to the churches’ decline. Again, the use of the saints’ money was brought into question. What began as an LSM issue that was to be kept separate from the churches, ultimately became a church burden, something Brother Lee had announced to elders in the beginning would not happen, that the Lord would not be pleased with this. (Don Hard) Churches were encouraged to make pledges and were reminded to carry them out. Such actions took place on Sunday night after the Lord’s Table meetings in some localities.
LSM and the local churches “won” the two cases but “gained a negative reputation” in the Christian community for taking fellow believers to court and for “their strategy of draining their opponent of their funds to the point of bankruptcy” by outlasting them due to endless funding resources from the saints and churches.
18.2 Another legal action 2003-2006
In another lawsuit (2003-2006) filed by LSM and many local churches, the book that was the object of their concern was done more carefully than the way the Mindbenders and God-Men books were presented. There are only a few lines in an obscure book that formed the basis for litigation over this book that seems to have a comparatively harmless effect on the recovery that The Mindbenders and God-Men had. LSM and the local churches have not “won” but lost in two appellate court decisions in Texas. They are now on their way to the supreme court in Texas unless a settlement can be reached before then. They are determined to get the appellate court’s ruling reversed, because that ruling has given a public impression that the cult label is legitimate. If that ruling is not reversed, they have vowed to go all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court (against Encyclpedia of Cults and New Religions, Ankerberg.)
It is said they might be going to this extreme because of an increase of persecution to underground churches in China associated with LSM, due to the cult label given them in the book and legitimized by a U. S. court of law. Whatever the reasoning, LSM and the local churches are “criticized for using very expensive notable California lawyers, and for spending millions of dollars provided by the saints to affect their end, instead of taking care of an irreproachable testimony and trusting in the Lord’s sovereignty. “They also run the great risk of fallout from failure to “win” and the irreversible reputation as a “spiritual bully”, whether they “win” or “lose”. At any rate their intense interest in the subject of defamation against them might give rise to the more important interest in the recovery, regarding their own case of defamation against former co-workers and elders that has been carefully documented and presented to them for fellowship and response.

18. Max Rapoport Rise and Fall
Max Rapoport found great favor with Brother Lee in the mid-seventies, who was in contact with Max and Sandee daily over a long period of time. According to Max, he became like a son to Brother Lee and Brother Lee was like a father to him. Brother Lee was concerned for the religious behavior of many of the elders in the recovery, and Max was encouraged by him to go out to “mess them up.” Max did so in his natural man and caused damage to the churches. Word came to Brother Lee about his behavior and insults, such as his reference to life-studies as life-stuffies. Max was soon gone and twice Sandee approached Brother Lee, twice, telling him that Max wanted to meet with him to reconcile with him and the churches. Brother Lee did not respond to her requests, or pleas, saying, “God is sovereign”, and he just let him go. But there was a reason for this that was personal, as “blood became thicker than water”, according to Max. (“interview”) That is Witness Lee caring to protect his own son, Philip, was his priority.
19. Max’s Undoing
In the late seventies apparently Brother Lee let Max go due to his behavior among the churches. Actually, a major problem had come up between Max and Brother Lee concerning Philip Lee, Brother Lee’s second son, who had become the manager of Living Stream Ministry (formerly, Stream Publishers) around 1974. A report had come to the elders in Anaheim, that Philip was observed fondling a sister in the office of Living Stream (both married). Max took the responsibility to go to Brother Lee with this news and made a strong recommendation to Brother Lee that Philip should leave with his family and go back to Taiwan. His recommendation did not meet with Brother Lee’s approval, and that day, according to Max, was the beginning of the end for him. Because Philip and the sister continued to work together at LSM, the brothers were quite concerned as time went on, and Max took it upon himself to get to the bottom of the story. He went to lunch with Philip and confronted him on the matter, but Philip denied the report and became very angry to the point of nearly causing a fight in the restaurant. The elders then went to the sister and she tearfully admitted the report was true.
20. Max Request for Reconciling Fellowship Bypassed
Brother Lee would later take the opportunity to let Max go, rather than have him in position in Anaheim to put pressure on him concerning his son or to possibly deal with his son directly at some point, as an elder of the church. He passed up the opportunity to bring Max back to be reconciled to God and to the churches. Max much later repented to individual brothers and families for his mistakes that caused damage to them and to their localities in the late 1970’s.
21. Benson Phillips and Ray Graver Campaign
In 1981 two brothers, Benson Phillips and Ray Graver, who had helped stop Max Rapoport, became engaged in their own high profile work. Philip Lee had continued on as manager of the Living Stream Ministry without interruption to his service. The relationship between him and the churches became heightened when Benson Phillips and Ray Graver began a campaign to promote him as “the ministry office”, along with their promotion of Witness Lee and his ministry. Benson and Ray felt that the saints were indebted to Brother Lee for the ministry and needed to fulfill their “account” to him by becoming more supportive of the ministry in various ways, which included being one with Philip Lee and the office he represented. Brother Lee admitted later that their promotions of Philip were a mistake. Some leaders (not Benson and Ray) repented publicly for their roles in promoting him (Minoru Chen was one, for 1986). Philip Lee’s record indeed was one of devastation in the recovery that helped lead the churches into turmoil and division. He far exceeded Max Rapoport in this regard. No public repentance came forth from Brother Lee to all the churches for his responsibility in positioning these two questionable men in high positions of influence that enabled them to carry out work that was gravely detrimental to the churches and factors of widespread despair.
Note: Max was a promising brother who the churches needed in his normal place in the Body. Brother Lee publicly expressed regret that he did not take better care of him. (Yet, he also would
not accept a reconciling fellowship with him.) Max was not political regarding Brother Lee’s son, as others have been, and would not have tolerated Philip Lee and his degenerate behavior a decade later (late 1980s) in the office of Living Stream, and more.
21.5 Standing Order for Book Sales
In the early eighties Philip Lee instituted the concept of having a standing order for books printed by LSM, which was continuously producing books that filled closets and bookshelves that to this day most have probably not been opened. If a book came out, all those that signed up for standing order had to buy it. If four books came out, those books had to be purchased by those on standing order. Sales were booming! Philip Lee, according to anyone’s description of him, including his father’s, was not a spiritual person. He was not at LSM for the carrying out of God’s economy; he was there for carrying out a job that he exploited for selfish reasons and for the Lee name. His previous “job” was that of selling Chinese wives to American men for the wives’ citizenship in the United States.

22. The New Way
In 1984 while the trainings on the books of the Bible were in their tenth year, an extraordinary change took place in the recovery. Brother Lee wanted to address the problem of stagnancy among the churches, beginning in the Far East. It was a very serious problem to him that in many localities the saints had become complacent. He was, therefore, burdened to take a turn and have a new way, which involved several matters and changes based much on Paul’s word to Timothy that God “desires all men to be saved and come to the full knowledge of the truth”. He felt it was not enough for the saints to hear the messages, read them, and then place them on their shelves; he wanted the saints to become constituted with the truths and to ably speak them back to others, in church meetings and as the gospel. Small group meetings were to become 80% of the church life where the truths could be dispensed, saints could be taught, new ones could hear the gospel, and all could be shepherded. Prophesying in the larger gatherings could also be realized to a greater extent.
23. The New Way Letter of Agreement
In 1986 Brother Lee said the key to the Lord’s new move was the one accord among the saints in all the churches. If there could not be a good morale and one accord, there could be no move of the Lord. Thus, he sounded a call to have an army of followers under him as the “commander-in-chief” while brothers responded by constructing and signing a paper stating their allegiance to him and to his ministry. Brother Lee’s desire was to preserve and protect the churches from drifting into denominationalism by not taking his ministry seriously, a ministry fully unveiling God’s eternal purpose and economy.
In Europe
24. LSM Seeks Europe Cooperation
In 1986 five brothers from LSM went to Stuttgart to hold a conference with the leading brothers in Europe for the expressed purpose of lining up John So and the European churches with the LSM office. This was so, even to the extent of expecting the brothers in Europe to report all their activities to the office, to Philip Lee. The brothers in Europe were perplexed by this, wondering why they should be expected to report their activities to a business office. Their refusal to
cooperate with such an expectation caused a problem to Philip Lee who consequently would make life very difficult for John So and churches in Europe who would not cooperate with him.
25. LSM Effectively Terminates German Printing
LSM reacted by stopping the translation and printing process of the Verlag-der Strom in Stuttgart, which had been publishing LSM books and life-studies in the German language for years. Camera-ready material was now to be sent to Anaheim. When over 4000 pages were sent, there was no response from LSM for a year and a half, even after attempts were made to secure communication by letter and by travel to Anaheim. The entire process was shut down due to LSM’s lack of cooperation and non-payment for material and labor to Strom. Witness Lee finally tried to rescue the situation and paid Strom, but it was too late, the printers and translators had been forced to find other jobs. The Strom publishing arm for LSM was soon after liquidated and ceased to exist.

26. Chaos in Europe Created
In the summer of 1986 about twenty-five saints from England went to the Living Stream office in Irving to serve. They were there for about two months, and when they came back they spoke negatively about John So and Stuttgart, repeating the things they heard at LSM. Their negative speaking issued in a chaotic condition in Europe.
27. Stuttgart Young People Disciplined
After attending a training in Taipei in which negative statements about John So and Stuttgart were spoken to the young people from Stuttgart, those Stuttgart young people then went to a training in Irving. On the way they stopped in Anaheim, expecting to receive hospitality before going on to Irving. They were turned down, however, for no apparent reason, after Philip Lee heard about their arrival and request. They had to board a plane again, and go on to Irving, where they were refused entrance to the training. The next day they returned and still could not register, but were eventually issued special red tags and had to sit in a disciplinary section in the back. Becoming angry about the treatment they were receiving, they asked for an explanation for the discipline. They were told to ask John So, who was perplexed also when he heard about it and could only attribute the treatment and condemning statements in the recent months to his refusal to line up with the ministry office in the way LSM expected. (The reason they got into the training was because an angry German brother went to Brother Lee. Philip, of course, created the problem for them, and Ray Graver, had done nothing to help them.)
In the Southeast
28. Workers Circumvent Fellowship With Elders
In 1986 the elders and co-workers in the Southeast were desirous and cooperative to take part in the new way, but LSM representatives began bypassing fellowship with the elders of the churches in order to establish LSM influence and a base for their operation in that region.
29. LSM Purchases House and Installs a Brother
LSM purchased a house near a college campus and a brother was selected by the office to be a full-time worker there, although the brother was not viewed by the leading ones in the churches
to be ready for such responsibility. These steps taken by LSM were done without fellowship with the elders in that area.
30. Pressure on Elders to Support the LSM Brother
At the Irving training LSM workers reprimanded the Southeast elders in front of video cameras for not financially supporting the LSM-installed brother and for not being one with the ministry. The Southeast brothers were asked to write out $6,000 in checks for this brother’s personal debts and were pressured for monthly pledges for the brother.

Before this time, no opportunity for fellowship had been given to the brothers to make them aware of “the need”. The LSM-installed brother eventually proved to be an unsuitable worker but there were no apologies forthcoming from Living Stream.

31. Turn Everything Over to the Office
Upon returning from the Taipei training a brother named Bob Ellis announced in a meeting of elders that Philip and Brother Lee had “big plans” for the Southeast and that it was imperative for them to give their cooperation to Philip and the office, and that Philip and Brother Lee needed evidence that the Southeast elders would fully cooperate with them.
Observation: This is opposite Watchman Nee’s teaching, “When a co-worker is in a certain place, he has to cooperate with the local church in that place.” (The Uniqueness of the Lord’s Recovery, 3). In the experience of the churches in the Southeast, the elders were to cooperate with whatever Philip and LSM wanted. This led to confusion and disaccord in these churches.
In Rosemead
32. Prior To LSM Interventions
Prior to LSM interventions, the church in Rosemead had received a commendation from highly respected brother Abraham Chang from Taipei, that he had “never seen any church among the churches with as much blessing from the Lord as the church in Rosemead for the genuine and sweet oneness and coordination there”. He made this comment to Brother Lee after visiting churches throughout the U. S. in the early eighties.
33. Elder Removed, Replaced With LSM Brother
In 1986 LSM was not happy with Don Hardy, an elder in Rosemead, because of his perceived lack of cooperation with the office for the new way. As a result a committee of LSM brothers met with Don Hardy to carry out a directive from Philip Lee to remove him from the eldership in the church and from the work in the recovery. He was replaced with ardent LSM co-worker, Francis Ball, who was one of the brothers in the committee, as was Minoru Chen. Don’s removal angered many of the saints in Rosemead, resulting in a growing mistrust of LSM.
34. The Door-Knocking Movement
In 1986 the elders in Rosemead were happy, initially, to open the doors of their meeting hall for door-knocking fellowship and activities involving churches in the area. Some of the elders soon became demoralized, however, over the way the door-knocking activity was being carried out. Many of the saints were also discouraged. No new ones were added and many of the local saints stopped attending regular church meetings.
35. Francis Ball Not Approved of in Rosemead
Moreover, in 1986, most of the church was unhappy with Francis Ball, their new replacement elder, who came to Rosemead with an agenda to bring about total cooperation with Philip Lee, who worked together with Francis from behind the scenes.
36. Division Comes In
Division resulted in Rosemead following 1) the unscriptural and unrighteous removal of Don Hardy 2) the door-knocking movement; and 3) the obtrusive nature of the ministry of Francis Ball, that damaged “the sweet oneness and coordination there” which resulted in his own dismissal from Rosemead, along with John Kwan’s.

In Anaheim
37. Resolving Serious Issues of a Tandem Leadership
John Ingalls was in the church in Anaheim with Witness Lee, Philip Lee, and the office of Living Stream in the same locality. His book, Speaking the Truth in Love, about the events and concerns related to the local churches in the late eighties is unique, as it describes his many experiences with Brother Lee and Philip Lee in their virtual tandem leadership role. John Ingalls records frustrations from 1987 through 1989 as he and other brothers tried to resolve serious issues they had with Living Stream and Witness Lee.
37. Talks With Bill Mallon and Godfred
In the fall of 1987 John Ingalls and Bill Mallon, two highly respected co-workers in the U. S., spent several days together discussing developments in the Lord’s recovery. During that time Bill Mallon explained to John Ingalls how he had suffered that year in various ways by events that had taken place in the churches and in the work of LSM in the Southeast.
38. Philip Lee’s Increased Involvement in the Churches
John came away from their talks with the deep impression that Philip Lee was becoming increasingly involved “in spiritual things concerning the Lord’s work, the churches, the elders, and the co-workers”. This concerned John since Philip Lee was employed by his father to be the business manager of the Living Stream office and was “reportedly instructed to deal only with business affairs” and was “totally unqualified both in position and character to touch spiritual matters related to the work of the Lord and the churches”. John naturally became alarmed and began to fear for the Lord’s testimony.
39. More Serious Matters Concerning Philip
Upon his return to Anaheim, John sought out Godfred Otuteye who coordinated with Philip Lee in the Living Stream office. He asked him about Philip’s role, saying that he felt Philip was “being promoted and is going altogether too far in his involvement in the spiritual side of the work, greatly overstepping his position as a business manager”. Godfred confirmed that the situation was very serious in that regard and had “seen and heard many things in the Living
Stream office in recent months that were very serious and very wrong. Godfred fully agreed that Philip Lee’s involvement in the work was way out of line, but he indicated that there were more serious things than that, stating that “the whole situation is sick and corrupt”.

40. LSM Sister Reports Philip’s Misconduct
Just days after talking to Godfred a report came to John Ingalls about the moral misconduct of Philip Lee in the office of LSM. A sister who held a prominent position at Living Stream and who had served there “sacrificially and faithfully” for many years testified to John that Philip had been violating her and other sisters over a long period of time and that she would endure him no longer. Her intention was to resign, which John confirmed was indeed appropriate. John was shocked and taken aback by this report and contacted Godfred who said that he already knew it.
41. Others Contacted About Case
John Ingalls was quite concerned about this case, especially since ten years previously there had been reports of similar incidents in the LSM office about Philip Lee that were confirmed by several eye-witnesses. He also felt that this immoral situation with Philip was more than a local matter since LSM was associated with churches all over the globe. John, therefore, “believed it to be reasonable and advisable for a few prominent co workers who were aware of the history of the case and who were respected by Brother Lee to approach him and inform him of the matter.”
42. Brother Lee Says Hands Off His Son
In the case ten years previously, Gene Gruhler, an elder, asked Brother Lee what was going to be done about Philip. Brother Lee’s strong word to him was for the elders to keep their hands off, and that he would take care of his son. Philip continued, however, as the LSM manager to the dismay of the elders, including John Ingalls. John said that whenever Brother Lee was that strong on a matter, the elders knew they could do nothing. This was John’s background to dealing with reports about Philip ten years later. The Fermentation of the Present Rebellion was severely critical of John for contacting co-workers who were “aware of the history of the case”.
43. No Action Again Taken By Brother Lee
Brother Lee again took no action after becoming aware through the brothers’ fellowship of the serious problems at LSM created by his son. It would be months before Brother Lee finally removed Philip from his position as manager of LSM in July 1988, and he did so reluctantly and under great pressure from the saints and the elders. Then the elders, who were also under pressure from the saints, eventually removed Philip from the church fellowship. The subsequent eldership, including Ed Marks and Francis Ball, eventually reversed that excommunication, saying it was a wrong decision, as they embraced Philip at the behest of his father and restored him to “fellowship” in the church in 1993. They even wrote an apologetic word to Philip for not signing a letter, informing him of their “gracious action”. Philip had been offended and his father suggested they apologize.
44. Preparation for Fellowship with Brother Lee
In the fall of 1987 John Ingalls came together with some of the brothers that he had close fellowship with through the years concerning the Lord’s work. They all had the same registration within them that the church life had gone down in their localities and was very poor for the most part throughout the country in other localities. (Brother Lee’s assessment was similar, which he expressed many times.) The brothers sought out fellowship before the Lord to

determine the reasons for this. This they did in preparation to have fellowship with Brother Lee, when he returned from Taipei.
45. Conclusions About Condition of Churches
They came to the following conclusions about the spiritual condition of the churches. 1) the ministry was being too highly exalted and emphasized 2) There was an excessive emphasis on numbers 3) LSM was growing in influence and control with Philip Lee as the office, with whom all the churches were to be one 4) Aberrational speaking and activity in the full-time training in Taipei, the FTTT, which was being headed up by Philip Lee 5) Moral misconduct of Philip Lee in the LSM Office



46. First Fellowship With Witness Lee
On December 12th, 1987, four brothers went to see Brother Lee after he had returned from Taipei. John Ingalls, Al Knoch, Godfred Otuteye, and Ken Unger represented many brothers as they opened their heart to Brother Lee about their concerns. John Ingalls would have sixteen sessions of fellowship with Brother Lee, and Ken Unger twenty from this point over the next couple of years in their attempts to address the serious developments in the recovery. This first fellowship was encouraging, but in nearly all subsequent times of fellowship, they made little progress with Brother Lee, and Philip still held his position for months as manager of LSM.
49. A Surprising Elders’ Meeting
On Monday, December 14, 1987 Brother Lee held an elders’ conference hoping to hear from the elders their positive reports about the new way. Many were honest and open with him that discouragement, dissension, and division had developed in some localities and brothers were gravely concerned. Brother Lee was not open to their fellowship in the Body; rather, he was offended by their honesty. He proceeded to push through, not only as “commander-in-chief” of the work, but also of the church.
50. Another Shocking Development
On the morning of December 19, 1987 before leaving for the training in Irving, John Ingalls again received a call from the LSM sister requesting to meet with John and Godfred. She shared in more detail Philip’s immoral behavior. This left the two elders “revulsed and in a daze”. They felt that Benson and Ray must know something about these matters and determined that they should be approached in Irving.
51. Fellowship With Benson and Ray
That afternoon John Ingalls and Ken Unger flew to Irving. They had a time with Benson and Ray the next day and shared with them initially about their concerns that were non related to the misconduct of Philip Lee in the LSM office. They let them know what a huge mistake they were making in promoting and exalting the office and Philip Lee, starting in 1981. Benson and Ray disagreed. This response surprised and disappointed John and Ken, who then tried to impress them with the seriousness of the matter.
52. Benson and Ray Refuse to Hear About Philip’s Misconduct
When these same four brothers came together again later that day, John brought up Philip’s misconduct in the office of LSM. Benson and Ray, who were deeply involved with LSM, became angry and would not hear them, saying that this was a matter to be taken up by the church in Anaheim, not by them. John and Ken felt that the matter was more than a local church problem and should involve Benson and Ray who were the counterparts of Philip Lee in the LSM operation that touched all the churches.
53. Benson and Ray Bring Report to Brother Lee
In the elders’ meeting that night it was evident that Benson and Ray had reported to Brother Lee all that John Ingalls and Ken Unger had shared with them. He spoke on the same matters, vindicating himself strongly while rebuking those he thought were opposing, though not mentioning names. John Ingalls felt that Brother Lee was out of line with the truth and was not presenting himself appropriately before the brothers. A number of brothers were grieved, disturbed, and discouraged by his talk.
In Atlanta
54. Bill Mallon Resigns from the Work
Bill Mallon was a long-time elder and co-worker, standing on the ground of oneness with the church in Atlanta and in one accord with the Southeast churches at the time LSM began its aggressive campaign that undermined Bill and instituted its agenda in that region that led to Bill’s resignation from the work. He shared with Brother Lee in his resignation letter on December 16, 1987 that the Southeast brothers were willing to receive the LSM workers and work together with them, but that they were never given that opportunity, pointing out that the elders’ experience in the Southeast with LSM was not that of the oneness of fellowship in the Body of Christ but that of being intimidated and harassed by LSM workers to line up with the LSM office. In Bill’s letter the subject of fellowship vs. central control was made reference to that Watchman Nee had warned about in The Normal Christian Church Life (ch. 7). Witness Lee gave no response directly to Bill for this charge or for examples Bill gave concerning central control, but stated in The Fermentation of the Present Rebellion that “all these [examples] are groundless, unprovable, perverted, and slanderous accusations” (p. 67), which they were not. There were many witnesses to support Bill’s word.
Concerns over Central Control
55. Observations and Experience Result in Contact
Bill Mallon was not the only one with concerns about central control in the leadership in the recovery and at LSM. According to John Ingalls’ account, John So began to be concerned in 1986, Bill Mallon in the spring of 1987, and John Ingalls in the fall of 1987. Brother Lee felt that since these three brothers all used the same term - central control - they must have consulted with one another or “conspired” with each other as ringleaders of a global conspiracy to overthrow him and his leadership. Each of these brothers testify that this was far from the case, that eventually, as they had done for years, they had telephone contact, and the matters that were on their heart came out from their experience and observation of developments in the recovery. The matter of central control was an issue picked up by many concerned brothers during the late eighties turmoil who had the same registration within them as the three brothers.

56. Brother Lee Reacts to Reports of Central Control
After the Irving training on January 7th, 1988 Brother Lee met with John Ingalls and Ken Unger and let them know that Benson and Ray had talked to him, along with another brother, Lin Rong. Brother Lee was very upset about the reference to central control. However, John honestly felt this was the case and that addressing this matter was getting to the core of the problem in the recovery. The next evening Brother Lee met with John Ingalls, Al Knoch, Godfred Otuteye, and Ken Unger. He strongly condemned them for not handling things properly, and was especially disturbed that the subject of Philip Lee’s misconduct was brought up with Benson and Ray and also with Lin Rong. He then stated that John Ingalls and the Anaheim elders were no longer useful to him to help deal with the misconduct in the LSM office or to deal with it as the church, declaring that they had disqualified themselves. The brothers were disturbed and disappointed with Brother Lee and his attitude and demeanor towards them. They felt there was hardness in his heart that made them feel it was hopeless to try to have any further fellowship.
57. An Armed Husband Looks for Philip
In late December 1987 the husband of a sister who was violated by Philip Lee in the LSM office went looking for him one night armed with a gun. He was very disturbed about what had happened to his wife and sought revenge. Although he had taken definite steps toward carrying out a grave act, he did not follow through. In March 1988, after three months had elapsed, this affair also came to the ears of Dan Towle, who became greatly alarmed. By this time no action had been taken concerning Philip.
57.5 Philip’s Record at Taipei Training
The husband who sought revenge might have also heard from his wife as did others that in the Taipei training, she would clean up the whisky bottles and porn magazines in Philip’s office, being his secretary. In spite of the corrupted state of Philip Lee, brothers still kowtow to him in their own weak and blind state.
57.6 Trainers Sober Up Philip
Further, brothers had to sober him up before trainings which he was to conduct in Brother Lee’s absence, while the latter was sick or working on the Chinese translation of the Recovery Version, which were most often the cases.
58. One Hundred Days Since First Meeting
While together with Brother Lee for fellowship in March 1988, Brother Lee remarked to the brothers that it had been one hundred days since they had come to him on December 12, 1987 for fellowship about their concerns, saying that a day didn’t go by without him considering what to do, adding that he felt that he should not give in to any pressure exercised by the elders or the saints, especially regarding serious matters related to his son. Brother Lee was to go another three and a half months before mounting pressures caused him to finally capitulate and terminate his son from employment at LSM.
59. Autonomy and Federation
On June 29, 1988 during the summer training, Brother Lee shared on autonomy and federation, which had become major topics of his. He felt that John Ingalls in his travels to various churches where he had been invited to speak was stressing the autonomy of the local church. Brother Lee’s stress in those days was not on the autonomy of the local church that featured elders and their authority in the church, as had always been the teaching in the churches from the ministries of Brothers Nee and Lee. Brother Lee’s stress was rather on the local churches lining up with him, and the elders submitting to his leadership and ministry to build up the Body of Christ in every place. Local churches were de-emphasized, along with the elderships and their responsibility to seek the Lord for His leading in their own locality. Because of the emphasis on the churches lining up with Brother Lee and with his office, John Ingalls had spoken about the dangers of church affiliation or federation, which lead to central control and denominationalism.
60. Administration Local, Communion Universal
On Thursday, August 25th, 1988, Brother Lee asked John Ingalls to come to his home for further fellowship. In that time John tried to impress upon Brother Lee that he never used the word autonomy in his speaking. But in Brother Lee’s own publication, The Beliefs and Practices of the Local Churches, the word "autonomy" is used positively two times. John stated that he was burdened to speak about local administration together with universal fellowship (as we have in our hymn, #824, authored by Brother Lee and translated from Chinese: Administration local, each answering to the Lord; Communion universal, upheld in one accord.) Brother Lee responded that this was his teaching. John agreed that it was indeed Brother Lee’s teaching. So what was wrong? John later shared with the church in Anaheim at his resignation speech about going directly to the Lord for His leading in the church in order to have a local administration, and at the same time maintaining a proper fellowship with other saints and other churches.
61. Godfred Speaks to Brother Lee
The next day, August 26, 1988 John Ingalls, Al Knoch, and Godfred Otuteye met with Brother Lee. Godfred asked Brother Lee if he had spoken anything against them recently and then reasoned with him about his speaking against autonomy, considering that a problem, yet when problems were brought to his attention by them, he didn’t address them. Godfred went on to earnestly say that the center of the church should be Christ, but that He had been replaced with Brother Lee and his ministry. It seemed Godfred’s frank words had touched Brother Lee, who stated that he liked what Godfred said. It was a hopeful time for the brothers, but at the end of the session they felt that no real progress was made. After the meeting Godfred told the other two brothers that he wanted to leave the eldership and was fully disgusted with the whole situation.
62. Sixteen Points
On August 28, 1988 Anaheim elders, John Ingalls, Al Knoch, and Godfred Otuteye held a special meeting with the church to share with them what was on their heart about the proper standing of the church. They did this in the face of developments in the recovery that brought in a confused situation to many churches and they were thus burdened as elders in their locality to address specific points about truth and practice. Their objective was to clarify the stand as the church in Anaheim and to bring all the saints back to the Lord Himself. Apologies were made for inordinate promotions and for succumbing to external pressures for the direction of the church rather than seeking the Lord’s leading. Minoru Chen basically confirmed the brothers’ word, but held some reservation on points made about church practices. He gave a strong supporting word to Godfred’s confession on behalf of the brothers about their improper relationship with the LSM office and he also wanted to disassociate with the office and its conduct, as the brothers did that evening. He declared that there had indeed been an excessive amount of promotion that confused the saints and brought them into despair and the church into suffering. He asked the whole church for forgiveness for his part in the promotions.

64. Atlanta Conference
The month following the sixteen points fellowship in Anaheim, Brother Lee held a conference in Atlanta with two elders’ meetings also being held. In the second elders’ meeting, he strongly defended his previous fellowship to the churches and declared that all those who didn’t follow him were “dropouts”. He spoke in a manner that was disturbing to a number of elders, putting himself on a high plane and them on a low plane, saying none of them was qualified to fellowship with him. He felt that the sixteen points’ fellowship in Anaheim was an attack on him, and he was re-asserting himself as the unique leader in the recovery against that fellowship and any and all “attacks”.
65. Anaheim Stirrings Over Sixteen Points
Back in Anaheim there was controversy and unrest since the evening of the sixteen points fellowship. Some were happy about it; some were not. An immediate concern was that some saints became outspoken in church meetings about the need to deal with Philip Lee on the church side. (He had already been removed at LSM.) Others objected to their speaking out about him publicly and in such detail. On October 27 a group of five concerned brothers approached the Anaheim elders to register their displeasure about open displays of criticisms that were taking place in the meetings, and the same brothers, along with six other brothers and sisters later wrote a letter to the elders that was received on December 20, 1988, signed by these eleven saints. At one point in their meeting a brother declared that they would not follow the leadership of the elders in their locality. They viewed the sixteen points as bullets aimed at Brother Lee and his ministry. Minoru Chen, who was there, strongly backed the concerned brothers’ position. It was found out that these concerned brothers had met with Brother Lee before addressing the elders.

66. Outcome of Meeting with the Dissenting Ones
The view of John Ingalls, Al Knoch, and Godfred Otuteye was the same. They felt that a system was now in place in the recovery with Brother Lee featured as the leader and his ministry as the leading. They were naturally expected to cooperate with this leadership and not seek their own leading, and not be different in any way. According to their spirit, though, they felt they were to stand against such a system and arrangement, not out of rebellion, but out of their sense of what was right according to God, and for their locality. They endeavored to practice generality in Anaheim, but the intervening group of brothers represented a number of saints who did not appreciate the direction of their elders. It became clear to the brothers that their eldership was not respected and that it existed in name only. They felt that it was a grievous situation that could not last much longer.
67. Anaheim Elders Resign
On Tuesday, March 14, 1989, John Ingalls, Godfred, and Al had fellowship and prayer in the morning and then would have lunch together. They determined that it was of no use to continue in their locality as elders. Their practice of generality would not be fully received, and would even be undermined by the objecting group and its sources of support. Thus on the Lord’s Day morning, March 19th, 1989 John announced their decision to withdraw from the eldership of the church. Godfred had already withdrawn, but stayed in fellowship with John and Al.

68. John So and 9 churches in Europe Disassociate with LSM
Six months previously, in September 1988, John So and elders from nine churches in Europe wrote a letter to Witness Lee after approximately three years of struggle with LSM.
Dear brother Witness Lee,
“It has come to our attention recently through several witnesses that gross immorality and some other sins mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5:11 have been committed by your son, Philip Lee (who is identified as your Ministry Office) on more than one occasion over a long period of time. This deeply disturbs us. It grieves us even more that you and some of your close co-workers were aware of the situation and yet not only tolerated it but covered it up.
What is worse is that, while this was happening, you and your co-workers were promoting and exalting W. Lee’s son to the extent that he was able to intervene in the churches’ affairs in recent years. The peak of this promotion was evident at your elders’ training in Taipei in June 1987.
Some of your co-workers were not only themselves under the influence and control of Philip Lee, but were also openly bringing elders and young people of many local churches under the same influence and control in your name and for your sake. The five brothers whom you and your Office sent to Europe in your place in May 1986 were trying to do the same here. Our young people who went to your training in Taipei have also testified of the same. “Before God, before the brothers and sisters in the local churches, before the Christian public, and for the sake of the Lord’s testimony, we are compelled by our conscience to fully disassociate ourselves from such sins and behavior in your work.”
68.1 Bill Mallon had resigned in December 1987 from the work in the Southeast.
69. Brothers Quarantined as Ringleaders 1990
In March of 1990 John Ingalls, Bill Mallon, John So, and Joseph Fung were “quarantined” by 45 churches in California following brother Witness Lee’s recommendation in messages given to the elders and co-workers. Churches in West Malaysia and Taiwan followed and virtually all the churches followed in the spirit of the “quarantine”. These brothers had been singled out by Brother Lee as ringleaders of a conspiracy to overthrow him and were designated “leprous” and unfit for the church life. None of these brothers, however, felt that they were in a conspiracy, let alone be its ringleaders. They felt that they were reacting and responding to needs in the recovery.
Each brother was impacted by the interfering actions of the LSM operation in their localities, beginning in Hong Kong with Joseph Fung in 1985. In 1990, in The Fermentation of the Present Rebellion, Brother Lee denied Joseph Fung’s complaint of LSM interferences in Hong Kong, even though many complaints about LSM’s interfering tactics were to follow in ’86, ’87, ’88, and ’89. Brother Lee was well aware of these complaints, saying privately, “I told Philip ten times not to interfere with the churches”. Yet he condemned Joseph on this point, rather than admit his own failure to remove the stumbling block.

70. Pivotal Meeting for the Churches
Witness Lee not only failed to remove Philip Lee, who became a stumbling block to all four of the “quarantined” brothers, he also did not take the golden opportunity to restore the oneness among all the brothers at a pivotal gathering of elders:
In his second message of the elders’ meetings, Brother Lee spoke concerning our going on. After all our sessions and hours of fellowship with Brother Lee, we had hoped that he would take steps to clear up a number of things publicly. This was surely an excellent opportunity, a perfect forum, and an appropriate time. He did give a few principles for our going on which would be helpful if practiced. He did say, "It is altogether wise and profitable that we do not expect all the churches to be the same," and, "Do not talk about who is for this or who is for that…We should not label ourselves or label others." We were thankful to hear these comments and urgings. But we were deeply disappointed that he did not go much further. What he should have cleared up he covered up, e.g., problems regarding the LSM office and the FTTT training in Taipei. We hoped he would have repented for some things that had caused many problems, not just for allowing saints from the U.S. to attend the training in Taiwan. We surely would have respected him had he done this, and the situation could have been altogether different than it turned out. (John Ingalls, Speaking the Truth in Love, 1990)
The four brothers were eventually “quarantined” in the recovery with no acknowledgments given of their sufferings with Witness Lee, Philip Lee and Living Stream representatives. Their reaction to the interferences, manipulations, and usurpations of LSM became known as “the rebellion”. They themselves became known as “the rebellious ones” and “the leaders of the rebellion”.
He later condemned in FPR all the reporters of LSM’s divisive activity, ever urging church leaders “not to make an issue” of anything. By so doing, the church leaders have kept their kind of “one accord”. They have also kept to this day the shroud about them, created during those days of turmoil in the local churches.
70. The Fermentation of the Present Rebellion (FPR)
In 1990 The Fermentation of the Present Rebellion was printed based upon several messages by Witness Lee in late 1989 and early 1990 that were supposed to tell the true story of the late eighties turmoil. The book, however, leaves out the principals involved, firstly by omitting the role of the LSM manager. This omission in itself destroys the book’s credibility. The father and son relationship in a money-making business contaminated the church in Anaheim and spread, as Philip’s role in the church played out in his interferences with leaders and churches.
The son’s incendiary contributions started “the late 80s turmoil” as Don Hardy and other leaders met and prayed, perplexed over reports of the son’s sexual immorality coupled with the father’s sins of covering up for his son. So these were obvious factors of turmoil and division induced by LSM operatives but left completely out of the dishonest FPR.
Other principals: Minoru, Francis, others joined the son of Witness Lee in person or by phone, at the Office or at the site of “the work”- in Stuttgart with John So, Hong Kong with Joseph Fung, Atlanta with Bill Mallon, churches in Orange County, especially Anaheim with John Ingalls. All are examples of the activity not printed in FPR. Indeed, the pages of FPR are filled with error and misrepresentation of former leading ones and their motives and intentions during a time of severe turmoil – induced first by LSM in Rosemead, the sad scene of a microcosm of the whole shameful display.

71. Full-Time Training
Full-time trainings became the life-blood of the church life for many of the churches. Young people attended the two-year trainings and were either sent back to their localities or out into a field of work for the Lord. A high percentage of them became quite useful to minister Christ and deposit the Word into others wherever they went, including gospel preaching and the raising up of churches in other countries. Their training and usefulness appear to bode well for the churches today and well into the future. (This is on the positive side.)

72. Vital Groups
In 1992, after seven years in the new way, Brother Lee began to speak about the need for vital groups. He had been sharing about small group home meetings since 1984, but said that the churches were not coming into the reality of the home meetings that should constitute 80% of the church life. Therefore, he was burdened to present in detail what it takes to raise up a proper and vital home meeting fellowship. In 1996 he expanded on this fellowship that was a major burden he bore until his death in 1997.
73. High Peak of the Divine Revelation
In 1994 Brother Lee took a remarkable step in introducing the high peak of the divine revelation concerning 1) God becoming a man that man could become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead, and 2) the New Jerusalem. The first item was controversial even among many that had been in the church life for 25 or 30 years, in that initially they had problems adjusting to and then accepting such a concept. The New Jerusalem, he taught, is the consummation, the final goal of God's organic salvation in the Bible and our destination. It is also the reason for God becoming man and for man becoming God in life and nature. The New Jerusalem had become a major burden of his ministry till the end.
73.2 PSRP “Flow”
In 1996 in order to help the saints become more constituted with the ministry of Brother Lee a “flow” came in from Taipei which he encouraged all the churches to pick up. It was called PSRP, the practice of praying over a portion of the ministry; studying it; reciting it; and prophesying according to it. PSRP did not get off the ground as genuine flows like calling on the Lord, pray-reading, or migrations did. PSRP was introduced on a world wide scale in the same way that door-knocking was introduced, and all the churches were encouraged to participate. There was no flow in either. PSRP died, as did door-knocking.
Brother Lee once said, “Do not say, as if it were a mere slogan, ‘I am following the flow.’ The real flow is the Lord Himself. How wrong it is to stir up a movement! That is an insult to the Lord. It is an offense to Him. There must never be a movement among us in the Lord's recovery. Do not use the word ‘flow’ as a cloak to disguise a movement. When some of you speak of the flow, you actually mean a movement. To create a movement and then to encourage others to follow it is to make a tremendous mistake” (The Spirit and the Body, p. 9, 1977).
Note: Even though it might be said that every believer on the earth should be brought into the God-ordained way under the inclusive and extensive ministry of Witness Lee, it could not be said that the implementation of the new way in the churches was a flow. It was a forceful push and a spiritually careless organized movement to obtain an end at the cost of hundreds of casualties and division in the Body. The narrow mindset adapted in the movement that oneness with Witness Lee and his ministry is automatically THE ONENESS in the Body of Christ has carried over till today. The trumpet call for the ministry became a trumpet blast for the recovery, as the work and the church became mixed and indistinguishable, moving the churches into sectarianism as ministry churches.
74. “What the Recovery Needs”
In 1997, the last year of his life and ministry, Witness Lee looked back over his life in the church and testified in an elders training that the result of his labor in the United States had not been satisfactory. In fact, it had been “disappointing”. He also testified that his work in both Taipei and the Philippines never brought "satisfactory results", and that only one place had done so where he had labored -- "Chefoo, my home town." He was locked in by the war then and could not leave to minister to the churches. So, he gave his full attention to the needs in his locality. He testified that due to the shepherding work and gospel preaching raised up in Chefoo among the saints a revival was brought in that lasted for ten years. From the beginning of Brother Lee's ministry in the United States clear to the end of it we heard relatively little about love. Near the end of his ministry, from 1988 on, he did speak more concerning the need for love among the churches. He said that even though the saints may enjoy and appreciate the high peak of the divine revelation, if love is absent they will be puffed up and not built up. He also stated that only love prevails and that "love is the most excellent way". He said it is the way to be an elder or a co-worker, and that it is the way to handle the saints. He proclaimed that it is the way to do everything and to be anything in the church life and that it is the way to conquer the degradation of the church, and that “this is what the recovery needs.”
75. The Last Message
In the spring of 1997 Witness Lee gave his final message in an elders’ conference of Chinese elders and co-workers and took the opportunity to issue an apology to the Body of Christ. He admitted to past mistakes, both his and “our” mistakes, and said that he had repented before the Lord in tears and that he was sorry to the whole Body of Christ, both in and outside the recovery. (But he was not specific concerning who or what he was referring to). He said that the leaders of the churches need to learn and that the eyes of the brothers and sisters need to be opened concerning receiving people according to the Son of God, and to not deviate a bit from this path. (Chinese New Year Conference, Anaheim, Feb ‘97)


—-- - - Receiving People in the Body of Christ
the path to follow—--


What brothers Watchman Nee and Witness Lee learned in China in their stand for Christ and the church, Witness Lee brought to the U.S. to apply.

He had three decades of experience in the churches before coming to LA in 1962:

Witness Lee:“With any kind of practice there is the need of two things: the life and the way. We have seen life for the practice of the church life. This is the life of Christ. We have this life within us. Now we need the way to match this life. We will cover the proper way for the practice of the church life. (The Life and Way to Practice the Church Life, ch 12, LA, 1963)

Brother Lee was laying a good foundation of life for God’s building, and arming the churches with safeguards to follow for keeping them on the right path.



The Ministry Becoming the Lampstand
(Witness Lee, The Vision of God’s Building, WL,1964)

“All gifts and all gifted persons are for the building up of the Body; they are not for any work in itself. The practice of today’s Christianity is absolutely different in principle. Wherever there is a gifted person, a spiritual “giant” with a certain gift, that person will begin a work. He will build up a certain Christian organization or ministry, and possibly call it some worthy name. We are not opposing anyone, but we are against the wrong principles which damage the Body life. The Apostle Paul did not form any Christian organization; he did not set up any kind of work. For possibly thirty years, he just established local churches. And, he did not keep any work in his own hands. In reading the New Testament we can only find the churches which were built up by him.

“At the time the Apostle John wrote the book of Revelation he was greatly experienced and matured. Of the twelve apostles he was the only one remaining. Yet he did not build up anything as his work, his ministry. Consider the local churches in Asia to whom he wrote: most of them were exceedingly weak; yet those churches were the lampstands, not the ministry of the Apostle John. John’s ministry was far more spiritual than the condition of those churches; yet he did not set up his ministry as a lampstand. In fact, he did not set up his ministry as anything. All he did was to further the building up of those local churches as the lampstands. Oh, we all must learn this! We must be aware of the dangerous tendency for any local church to become a work, kept in the hand of some gifted person. If such is the case, that is a real degradation. However much the Lord may use a gifted person, however great his ministry may be, the local church must not become his work. God’s intention is not to build up the ministry of any person, but to build up His church. This is not a small matter.

“In the New Testament there are the titles, the “church of God” (Acts 20:28), the “church of Christ” (Rom. 16:16), and the “church of the saints” (1 Cor. 14:33; 1Thess. 1:1). There is never any “church of the apostles". The church belongs to God, to Christ, to the saints, not to any apostle.

“The greater our gift is, the greater is the danger that we will take over the church and keep it in our hands. This will greatly damage the church life. We must learn not only how to minister in the local church, but also how to keep our hands off the church. This is not easy. The local church is not our personal enterprise. The local church is the property of the local saints, not some worker’s business. Some gifted persons put a local church in their pocket. Oh, this is a real problem!

In the final message of his ministry, Witness Lee shared with his closest followers:

“This is a lesson for us all. The co-workers in different places need to learn; all responsible brothers in all localities need to learn. The eyes of the brothers and sisters all need to be opened. Too many things we need to learn! We have made mistakes in the past, including me, I have to admit. I have had very painful repentance before the Lord. I am very sorry! I am sorry for the Body of Christ - not only for the brothers and sisters among us, but also for the ones in the denominations. …We must learn from our past mistakes to receive people according to God's Son, undeviating…. not deviating a bit from the path.”
Something was on his heart that he wanted to share with those who would carry on the leadership. Those brothers, however, did not seem to comply and even a video of the message that I and others watched on Youtube was removed by LSM. What W. Lee was asking for others to do was something he could not do - uncover the past. And for the brothers to pick up this heaviest of burdens would be in conflict with how they were trained, for decades. They were “to be blind to the ”mistakes” of a leader or suffer the consequences. This was the protocol in Anaheim, and those who practiced in this manner and taught others the same, would now be subjected to change and perhaps share their true feelings by announcing as true what they had been condemning as “rumors and lies”.
The “problem” of John Ingalls was his upright principle in matters of conscience as an overseer and elder in the church in Anaheim. This brother was disfellowshipped among the churches according to the recommendations of Witness Lee to the churches in messages leading up to The Fermentation of the Present Rebellion book.
It would have profited the churches greatly to hear John’s testimony. He had to be done away with though and so did three other honorable leaders of strong moral character in the Lord’s recovery who became disenchanted with the dubious nature that characterized the LSM operation, of Lee & son.

Two Factors of Division
“Divisions come into existence due to two factors. One factor is related to the Lord’s servants. There is no doubt that the ministers, the servants, of the Lord work for the Lord by trying their best to help people through preaching and teaching. But eventually, nearly all the servants of the Lord keep the results of their work in their hands. A servant of the Lord may be called by God and sent by the Lord with a real ministry and a real commission. Then he goes out to work for the Lord. He works hard and effectively to help people, and he eventually gains some real results. But the problem or the danger here is that this very servant of the Lord may keep the results of his work in his own hands to form something as a support to his work. If this happens, division is created.” (The Life and Way to Practice the Church Life, WL 1963, Los Angeles)
“Now, I want to add a little word concerning the relationship among the co-workers. In the Scriptures, in Acts and in the Epistles, you can see many people working for the Lord. But they were not organized together. There was no organization for the churches or for the co-workers, the apostles. Peter and some brothers worked in Jerusalem, in Judea, and Paul and others worked in different places of the Gentile world. There was no organization of the co-workers, and there was no central control over them. They were all sent by the Lord and all worked for the local saints, for the local churches. None was organized with others and none would keep his work in his hands. So there was no problem. “As long as we do not have any kind of organization, everything will remain simple and without trouble. Suppose I go to a certain locality to work. Eventually, I leave the results of my work in the hands of the local saints there. Then another brother goes there and works in the same way, and a third brother goes there and works in the same way. The church in that locality is not in the hands of any one of us. “Furthermore, we three even do not have any kind of organization. We are just working together for the Lord. By the Lord’s guidance at the present time, we have to stay here to work together and go on together, but this is not an organization. I do not give either of them a salary, nor do they give me a salary. If you feel led by the Lord to work with me, let us go on together. If I feel guided by the Lord to work with you, let us go along together. If we do not have any guidance from the Lord to work together, we just go on with the Lord. It is so simple. “You have to realize that as long as you keep the results of your work in your hands, you have a sect, a division, in your hands. You have to keep your hands off the results of your work and leave the results to the local saints. Let us follow the footsteps of the apostle Paul. Many churches were established through him, yet in the end he kept nothing in his hands. So Paul did not create any division.
“The divisions also came into being because of the saints’ having something special. According to church history, it is clear that soon after the time of the early apostles, the church deviated from the right track. It degraded and became strictly an organization with the formation of the Roman Catholic Church. Then from the time of the Reformation, the state churches came into existence. These state churches were organized churches. After the state churches, many saints saw particular spiritual things, such as baptism by immersion, the presbyterial system, and holiness, sanctification. Those who saw something about baptism formed something to represent and maintain baptism. They made a mistake by making baptism by immersion something special and they stood for this specialty. Then there were the Methodists, and so many other denominational churches. Thus, many divisions were created, and every division was for something special.” 1963)
W. Lee 1963: An Apostle-like figure and his son, the LSM manager, did not escape the righteous pen of John Ingalls in Speaking the Truth in Love. His book is true from cover to cover. Witness Lee’s book was not. John became a much-maligned brother among the local churches, but upon reading his book, one gets a totally different, yet appropriate, perspective of him and of our history. So Witness Lee had warned gravely of this type of development and reach of a gifted leader, when he himself came to U.S. shores in 1962. He was speaking admirably at that time but would be the one to deviate far from the path of the vision he had espoused in the beginning. And the brothers followed.
His final requests didn’t seem to be respected by them and his counterparts have continued on in how they were trained by him. They have not changed. They carried on with what they had learned from their mentor not to make an issue; nor care for right and wrong, although he admitted that he was wrong and that they also were wrong in Receiving People in the Body of Christ.
Telling the true history is what John Ingalls did in response to FPR, The book that veiled the churches under W. Lee “worldwide”. Wide-open opportunity was given to our leaders, and to all of us to “study the history and learn from it.” WL LSM didn’t take that opportunity. I knew about his final message, that was given four years prior in 1997 and in 2001 I began to write and show the deviation from the Path in the Lord’s recovery taken by WL.

“We must learn from our past mistakes to receive people according to God's Son, undeviating…. not deviating a bit from the path.”
__Witness Lee 1997
S.I. May 2025